Tactical Leader is a community of practice for military professionals interested in the study and practice of war at the tactical level.

Preparing and training formations almost exclusively in the conduct of passive, stealthy reconnaissance leaves the formation out-of-balance in respect to its capabilities. The ability to conduct aggressive reconnaissance is an essential proficiency in large-scale combat operations. Formations must train both. This post seeks to highlights considerations in favor of conducting aggressive reconnaissance that a tactical leader should use to inform thier model of reconnaissance.

Tactical commanders and staffs today struggle to attack the enemy's weaknesses while leveraging their formation's inherent strengths. To better maneuver at the tactical level, we must first overcome two hurdles that currently challenge our commanders and staffs.

The tactical commander and his staff seek to plan and execute a course of action that best exploits the enemy's weaknesses. Understanding the reconnaissance techniques, pull and push, and how they contribute to the formation's ability to identify and attack from a position of relative advantage is essential to tactical success.

In our efforts to conduct reconnaissance, we find ourselves falling well short of achieving the reconnaissance objective. We must leverage the Cavalry formation’s capability to conduct combined-arms maneuver to overcome this challenge.